The Great Legendary Hunt
by The Cowgirl Bookworm
Summary: Seeking a way out of her rocky personal life, Kris leaves Castelia on a trip for her job to track down every legendary Pokémon she can find. With her team, she hopes that she can. Along the way she will face peril, adventure, running out of underwear, and the lack of a Pokémon knowing fly. After all, Jerry can't fly well. Oh, yeah. She had a Gyarados names Jerry.


"Kris?"

The long brown hair barely moved, the only sound a low, "Wha?"

"Kris, Edwards wants you." Cheri, an intern with the _Pokémon World News_, tried to shake the senior reporter and photographer awake. The Sneasel that was sitting on the desk growled, claws twitching. Cheri squeaked, stumbling backwards.

"Penny, shut up." Kris snorted, shaking her hair out of her face. The Sneasel narrowed its eyes, but sat on its claws. Cheri, apparently satisfied, scampered back down the hallway, towards her desk. Kris watched her, wiping her hair out of her eyes. God, why had she stayed up that late? And gone to that bar? And drank all those cocktails?

Oh, right. Her boyfriend just broke up with her.

She downed the lukewarm cup of coffee on her desk, shook her head, and made her way down the hallway. Penny hopped down and toddled after her, the towering skyscrapers of Castelia City. Below, crowds of people hurried to and fro, making purchases, going to work, buying ice cream. Kris looked down at the streets. "Ice cream sound good, Penny?"

"El!" Came the excited reply.

Kris rapped on Edwards' door, watching as her boss turned around. He smiled, gesturing for her to sit. Penny happily climbed his desk and sat on it, snacking on the bowl of Pecha berries he kept out for the staff's Pokémon. Edwards' papers went every which way, but he only smiled, playfully tweaking Penny's larger ear. He settled himself down across from her, absent-mindedly typing a little on his computer.

"I heard about Hiro, knew that guy was a jerk from the start." Edwards smiled sympathetically, his eyes crinkling with the wrinkles around him. Harvey Edwards had owned the _Pokémon World News _from the start, turning it from a mere weekly tabloid into a multi-region 24-hour news channel with a daily paper covering events ranging from Pokémon Contests and Musicals to Elite Four challenges and local events for each city and town in every region. Harvey had been through it all.

Kris shook her head. "That was just because he didn't bring you a plate when he went to that awesome Johtoian place down the road." She could feel herself tear up slightly. Hiro had actually been nice. But he had just been so, boring. It was the same thing every day. Call, set up for dinner the next day, and repeat. She had finally ended it, and kris knew that it was right.

But why did it have to hurt so much?

Kris shrugged. "It just didn't work out."

"Well, maybe this'll cheer you up." Harvey's smile was now one of micheif, his smile reaching his eyes. Penny stopped chewing on her berry, attentiveness radiating off of her. "I've got a special assignment for you. Nice little vacation..."

Kris furrowed her brows. "Alright, spill."

Harvey pulled out a sheaf of papers from his drawers, shooing Penny away to avoid berry juice. She leafed through them, noting names, places, dates. _Kanto Memorial Lodge, Canalave Inn, The Slateport Motel?_ She looked up, "What are you playing at?"

Harvey leaned back, smiling so hard it seemed he would crack his teeth. "I want you to do something for me, something that I wanted to do, but just never could." Harvey's eyes grew misty, somewhere far away in time. "I want you to find legendary pokémon."

Kris almost wished she had her coffee from her desk. If only to spit it. "What?"

"I want you to go to any place with rumors of legendaries, any place in any region, and see if you can photograph them." Harvey's eyes grew bright as he outlined his plan. The company would provide transportation, room and board, and any equipment she needed. As one of the few reporters who had bothered to train any pokémon, let alone have a team of six, she was the _prime _candidate to go searching for these powerful beasts.

Kris looked at the suddenly much larger packet of papers, unsure of what to do.

"You can take some time, just let me know by the end of the day." Harvey said, smirking when she had to practically drag Penny away from the berries. Kris decided she was taking her lunch break, grabbing her bag and running outside. A few minutes later she was loaded down with enough ice cream to feed an army, and had made her way to the small park that Castelia boasted. Penny was already snacking on her cone as Kris released her team.

First came Tealy, which actually was a silly name for a Blaziken. The only thing she could think of was that she must have really enjoyed the color teal when she got her Torchic, for there was nothing teal about the six foot bird standing in front of her. Tealy settled down with his cone, clacking his beak in appreciation. Then came her Luxray, Edison who set to licking his cone happily. Angelique the Gothielle and Maria the Maractus were both pleased, Angelique passing along their thanks telepathically.

Kris grinned as she grasped the Net Ball in her hand, enlarging it and tossing it towards a relatively empty area. The usually small ball of energy that signaled a pokémon being released expanding, stretching until it was almost as tall as the trees in the park. It solidified, blue scales twinkling in the sun as the Gyarados coiled himself up. He was a fearsome beast, awesome in his power and one of her strongest pokémon.

He was named Jerry.

Jerry barely moved as Kris set herself down on his coils, tossing ice cream into his mouth. Jerry had been her first, for years he had just been a Magikarp that swam around his bowl, and then when she had gotten in a fight with a friend and he had tried to hit her, there had been a sudden crash of breaking glass and he found himself in a massive mouth filled with fangs. Jerry had let him out, and she hadn't seen him since. But she had kept Jerry, and she made sure to let him out of his pokéball every day, and took him to the beach on Sundays. Her apartment could handle everyone else, but Jerry.

So with her team surrounding her, she told them.

Gothielle relayed their responses, and she was stuck by the division of her team. Tealy was against it, growling that their power would obliterate them. Penny and Edison thought it would be fun, if only to say they had seen a legendary. Maria remained out of the argument, instead sitting in the sun and breathing deeply. Angelique thought that it would be foolish, akin to tempting fate. Jerry said he would go along with whatever she decided.

Angelique translated his words.

_You will know best. It is your choice._

Later, after her team had gone ahead and started playing a game that involved Edison closing his eyes and sending out a Thundershock in a random direction that they would have to dodge, she called Harvey. "I'll do it. Alright?"

"You leave tomorrow." Harvey said, then hung up.

Jerry lowered his head down, and Kris quickly found out that there were few things that could knock you off of your feet quicker than an affectionate Gyarados.

* * *

Blaziken-Tealy

Gyarados-Jerry

Gothielle-Angelique

Sneasel-Penny

Luxray-Edison

Maractus-Maria


End file.
